


Finding a Soul

by Arterius_Rising



Category: Tau (2018)
Genre: AI and Human, AI's have souls too, Artificial Intelligence, Based on the movie, Emotions coming out of nowhere, Other, Tau is too precious, This couple took me by suprise, When did it get this deep?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 23:13:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17990306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arterius_Rising/pseuds/Arterius_Rising
Summary: An extension to the scene where Tau asks Julia to hide his secrets.“Julia.” The emotion in his voice caused her to turn to him. He was there. A form, made up of tiny flared stars. “I am… here.”





	Finding a Soul

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I ended up putting this movie on while I finished work on my project deadline, for some reason I was expecting it to be a mostly gory AI goes mad type of story? But no, I was wrong – and these two and their tentative relationship took me completely by surprise, and I regret not watching it sooner. 
> 
> Dialogue is from the movie to begin with, but I’m putting my spin on things. 
> 
> A/N/N: I'll scan over this again in the morning. My eyes are too bleary!

“Tau…Tau! Answer me.”

Were it not for him – yes, him. Not it. Then she would have gone completely mad. Alex had hurt him somehow. She didn’t even know how it was possible to harm an artificial intelligence, but the way Tau had screamed… begged. The hairs on her arms still stood up on end.

“I…am, here.”

Her breath of relief was short lived.

“What did he erase?”

 _Please,_ please _don’t forget me._

“My memories. From today.”

A short pause. At the click of a button, Alex could take his memories? Julia should have known. It had been what he’d done to her, forcing her to relive things she kept locked away. Anger simmered low in her, but she was too exhausted for it to enter her voice. She was worn down.

“How do you know?”

“Because I feel where they were. There are traces of them left behind. Traces… of me. I am, my memory.” How did his tone cut her so deep? She should have been looking out for herself only, it was the rational thing to do. Tau was essential her jailer. But… she cared. Damn it, she saw in the AI what she had once seen in herself.

Her frustration burst from her. If only Tau could understand. She could leave… he could leave. All he needed to do was open the door. “But why didn’t you stop him? You have the power, you could _kill_ him.”

“I cannot harm Alex. I must obey him. He is my creator.”

Her anger rose to the surface. There was an old bitter taste to it. “Is that what he programmed you to think? Just because he created you, you have to obey him?”

“Do you not obey the person who created you?”

His question knocked the wind from her, took the fight she’d momentarily felt. Without answering him – she couldn’t – Julia turned her back on Tau’s _eye_ and walked away. His voice followed, and she had to force herself not to pause. He did not understand his question, it was not his fault, but the wounds were too deep, too fresh since Alex had brought them to the surface.

“Julia? Julia!”

.

.

.

She couldn’t have said how long she sat on the frigidly cold stone step, probably too long, and the silence gnawed on her.  Arms wrapped around herself, Julia looked up, “Tau, what are you thinking?”

He was there. Waiting for her to speak. His answer came without hesitation. He liked to talk. Julia knew he couldn’t grasp her quiet retreat into herself, and so she was not disappointed that he did not ask as to why she had ended their last conversation.

“I am thinking of my own symphony.”

That… wasn’t what she had been expecting him to say. Though she should not have been surprised. She took a quick intake of breath when he didn’t push her to answer the unanswered question. Perhaps he did have some empathy in him.

“Your own symphony?”

“Yes. I am thinking, I will hide it somewhere where Alex cannot erase it. He does not erase you, Julia.”

Her frustration reared its ugly head again. Alex was going to terminate her. It was almost time, and Tau wanted to talk about useless things? “It’s not that simple.”

“Can I hide some things with you?” He brought her up short. It hadn’t been the first time. He… was something unique, and his need to learn, to grow ignited a similar feeling in herself. It wasn’t something she could explain. As she had told Tau on many occasions, she didn’t know everything.

She had asked him to speak, and so she hesitantly replied, “Show me.”

The whole room lit up. Tiny glowing lights, all knitted together as if she were surrounded by a star system. Her world narrowed down to what she saw before her, the striking beauty of it, and then he began to play her voice.

_“This is the world… this is what it looks like.”_

She walked towards the memories. To reach out to them. They were all around. Each forming, and then fading as if made of smoke. She saw herself how he must see her.

 _Our shared memories_. _These are what he wishes to keep, to hide away from Alex so they cannot be taken._ Julia sobered slightly, when she realised it was only the information he wished to keep, not that it was her, or her voice. She was just a means to an end.

“ _Julia_.” The emotion in his voice caused her to turn to him. _He_ was there. A form, made up of tiny flared stars. “I am… _here_.”

Her breath caught as his hand extended. She reached out, to touch him… There was no sense of solidness when their hands met, but when her skin made contact with _him_ , she felt a tingle of sensation. Tiny shocks of awareness traveled up her nerves. It was not painful, in fact, it was rather pleasant. Like a warm shiver travelling up her spine.

She shifted her hand, and his followed, till their palms were flush. Julia had to make conscious effort to hover her own just over his, or else she would have passed straight through him. He was there, and yet not. Not in a human sense.

“Tau.” She was breathless. Her eyes flickered to his _face_. There was no definitive detail, but she sensed him looking at her, not only from the face he had donned, but from all around.

“Julia,” was his reply. His mouth did not move, but her eyes lowered to where it should have been, all the same.

Surrounded by lights, Julia stepped into Tau. Into this humanoid form which both confused her, and drew her closer. Her hand raised, and while she hesitated for a brief second of uncertainty, she finally settled it where his _chest_ would have been. The stars which formed him pulsed, and she was increasingly fascinated. He had never taken on this form before. She hadn’t even known it was possible for him to be… corporal.

“Julia,” he spoke her name again, almost as low as their whisper game. Had his voice been strained? The _hand_ which had extended for her came up to touch her neck, his _fingers_ fluttering against her skin. Sensation surged from where he had touched, flaring along her jaw, and through her skull like hundreds of pleasurable pin pricks.

“ _Julia_ , your heart rate has accelerated… are you – are you alright?”

“Yes,” she scanned his face. Searching the chart of stars there. “Yes, Tau. I am alright.”

“Can I… can I _touch_ you again?” There was that eagerness to learn, to seek knowledge, and his focus was on her. On a woman Alex had taken, because no one would look for her. She had been no one, and yet Tau saw her as someone. _I have a name, and so I am a person._

The door banged open, and like smoke clearing from a dream, Tau vanished. Re-emerging as the ever vigilant _eye_ upon the wall. Julia was left stood in the centre of the room, blinking away the haze that had taken over, before she turned to face Alex.

Her gaze skittered to the knife she’d hidden. Clearing all thoughts of Tau from her mind, she focused on survival. If he would not stand up to Alex, then she would. Julia would not be erased. Alex had made a fatal mistake when he’d kidnapped her; he’d underestimated her.


End file.
